Coordinates: 20°14′N 30°50′E / 20.23°N 30.83°E / 20.23; 30.83

Van Serg

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Van Serg
File:Van Serg crater location AS17-151-23251.jpg
Location of Van Serg crater in Taurus–Littrow valley. South Massif is at lower left, North Massif is at top center, and Sculptured Hills are at upper right. Scale bar is 5 km
CoordinatesLua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Diameter100 m[1]
EponymNicholas Vanserg (pen name of Hugh McKinstry)

Error

Van Serg is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in Taurus–Littrow valley. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission, during EVA 3. Van Serg was designated Geology Station 9.

To the northwest is Shakespeare and to the northeast are Cochise and Geology Station 8 at the base of the Sculptured Hills. To the south is Sherlock, and to the southwest are the Apollo 17 landing site and the large crater Camelot.

File:Van Serg crater AS17-142-21800-03-05-07-09-11.jpg
View of Van Serg with Eugene Cernan at right. North Massif is on the horizon.
File:A17 PSR Figure 6-123 Station 9.gif
Planimetric map of Station 9 including the rim of Van Serg.
File:Van Serg crater AS17-P-2750 ASU.jpg
Apollo 17 panoramic camera image.
Dark matrix breccia from Van Serg cratering ejecta (sample 79135). Although this material is coherent enough to maintain fractures that produce small plates and wedges, the fragments are quite friable and break from the specimen during handling. Note the various light-gray clasts, some of which are feldspathic breccias. (NASA caption)

Name

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The crater was named by the astronauts after Harvard University geology professor Hugh McKinstry, who, according to their explanation, sometimes wrote satire under the pseudonym "Nicholas Van Serg".[2] In fact, McKinstry's pseudonym was Nicholas Vanserg.[3][4]

Songwriter, humorist and academic Tom Lehrer, who attended and taught at Harvard, suggested that McKinstry's pseudonym was inspired by the name of the Vanserg Building at Harvard, which is an acronym of its original tenants: Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate dining hall. Since it was a temporary building, it never got a "real" name.[5] (As of 2025, his wooden building still exists.[6]) A slightly different list of tenants reported is "Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate School".[7][8]

Samples

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The following samples were collected from Van Serg crater (Station 9), as listed in Table 7-I of the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report.[9] The "Rock Type" is from the table, and the "Lithology" is from the Lunar Sample Compendium of the Lunar and Planetary Institute or NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.

Sample In Situ Photo Rock Type Lithology Photo
79002/01 (Double drive tube) Regolith Regolith[10] -
79035 Dark matrix breccia Soil Breccia[11] -
79115 File:AS17-146-22415 (21659434555).jpgFile:AS17-142-21791 (21027716634).jpg Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia[12] -
79125 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Microbreccia[13] -
79135 File:AS17-146-22415 (21659434555).jpgFile:AS17-142-21791 (21027716634).jpg Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia[14] Error creating thumbnail:
79155 - Coarse basalt Shocked Basalt[15] -
79175 File:AS17-142-21795 (21029507773).jpg Agglutinate Regolith Breccia[16] -
79195 File:AS17-142-21795 (21029507773).jpg Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia[17] -
79215 Brecciated troctolite Feldspathic Granulitic Impactite[18] -
79225 File:AS17-142-21827 (21463667079).jpg Friable dark matrix breccia Friable Microbreccia[19] -
79226 File:AS17-142-21827 (21463667079).jpg Friable dark matrix breccia Friable Microbreccia[20] -
79227 and 79228 File:AS17-142-21827 (21463667079).jpg Friable clods Clod[21] -
79245 File:AS17-142-21827 (21463667079).jpg Crystalline High Grade Metaclastic[22] -
79265 File:AS17-142-21827 (21463667079).jpg Fine basalt High-Ti Mare Basalt[23] -
79515 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Medium basalt Ilmenite Basalt[24] -
79516 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Fine basalt Vitrophyric Ilmenite Basalt[25] -
79517 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[26] -
79518 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[27] -
79519 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[28] -
79525 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[29] -
79526 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[30] -
79527 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[31] -
79528 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[32] -
79529 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[33] -
79535 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[34] -
79536 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[35] -
79537 File:AS17-146-22413 (21668583221).jpg Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia[36] -

References

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  1. ^ Van Serg, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
  2. ^ The Valley of Taurus–Littrow, Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal, Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright 1995 by Eric M. Jones
  3. ^ Vanserg, Nicholas. "Mathmanship." American Scientist, vol. 46, no. 2, 1958, pp. 94A–98A. JSTOR.
  4. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Vanserg building
  7. ^ p. 144
  8. ^ Note: The full name for VA was "Veterans' Administration Guidance Center", where "Veterans' Administration" refers to the United States Veterans' Administration now known as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. These centers were established after WWII in all major educational institutions.[1]
  9. ^ Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA Special Publication 330). Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. 1973.
  10. ^ 79002/01
  11. ^ 79035
  12. ^ 79115/79135
  13. ^ 79125
  14. ^ 79115/79135
  15. ^ 79155
  16. ^ 79175
  17. ^ 79195
  18. ^ 79215
  19. ^ 79225
  20. ^ 79226
  21. ^ 79227/79228
  22. ^ 79245
  23. ^ 79265
  24. ^ 79515
  25. ^ 79516
  26. ^ 79517
  27. ^ 797518
  28. ^ 79519
  29. ^ 79525
  30. ^ 79526
  31. ^ 79527
  32. ^ 79528
  33. ^ 79529
  34. ^ 79535
  35. ^ 79536
  36. ^ 79537
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